is it general mcmaster, and general mattis? g fa ar mor contact with him over the past week. best guess based on all of your reporting over the past several months, who is talking to donald trump every day on north korea? >> i think all the people you mentioned, obviously general kelly his chief of staff is the central person. my impression has been that secretary of state tillerson is coordinating the diplomacy, the engagement with china. there are extensive conversations going back and forth, not all public, with the chinese, also with the japanese. i would just note one additional thing, joe. this "fire and fury" rhetoric, whatever audience was intended becomes a tasking order for our military. general mattis and others at the pentagon think there are no good military options but when your commander in chief says through h.r. mcmaster, it is intolerable for north korea to acquire nuclear weapons that could strike the united states, in the pentagon you salute and you look at options, even if you think there are no good ones yo

and you have the other two generals ahead of the joint chiefs and also general mattis over at the defense department. what are they doing? they're having to go around the world cleaning up after this president in north korea. i think there's a reason the military rallied today. they have genuine fears about the emotional and mental stability of the man in the oval office. >> and what a contrast to the

let us be clear, general mattis said this is diplomatic.ry in the region would be catastrophic and no one wants it. —— war indeed. donald trump said he is open to talking. there is a diplomatic possibility, it is just who will approach first. so much to lose in this. still officially at war with north korea. yet people have lived with the rhetoric for yea rs. have lived with the rhetoric for years. how does it look for them? people finding themselves in the office and school and park this morning here in seoul are a bit bemused, frankly, that the rhetoric, the words, from president trump, could have escalated overnight. they thought fire and fury was as bad as it can get but things have gone further. they will be encouraged to hear the president talk about how he does not think kim jong—un can go around threatening the us, japan, and south korea. the message is a strong us alliance with the country of south korea is crucial. south koreans would be glad to hear they stand side—by—side. in terms of the diplomacy general mattis talked about, w

nbc news reporting that president trump chew ed out his generals including defense secretary mattis, demanding the general in charge of afghanistan be fired. and comparing war strategy to the renovation of his favorite new york restaurant, the 21 club. is it any wonder the jgenerals were stunned and angry? >> if the president doesn't listen to the generals like general nicholson, and he goes down the road that president obama went, afghanistan is going to collapse. >> it is frustrating that we waited six months and there still hasn't been a plan laid out. >> coming to america. the white house unveiling a hard line plan to slash legal immigration in half over ten years, sparking an explosive briefing by the president's top policy adviser, challenged by the son of cuban immigrants. >> this whole notion of well, they could learn -- they have to learn english before they get to the united states, are we just going to bring in people from great britain and australia? >> i am shocked at your statement that you think that only people from great britain and australia would know english. it is

>> mae, martha, general mattis, secretary mattis is saying in a very direct way if you shoot at us, expect at you in a nano second and we are prepared to do that. and what you are seeing the trump administration do is leverage all the elements of national power. so, secretary mattis in charge of the department of defense is talking about the types of things that we can do. we have flown b. 1 bombers and all of that have you got today all the talk is about the trade deal and the economic back and forth between us and china. that's leveraging our economic power. >> martha: right. >> over the weekend we have been leveraging information power with all of our key leaders saying essentially the same thing that this is a red line that we should not cross. >> martha: so, you know, when you add all that up, bruce, let me ask you this: it appears there is incremental progress that china is acting in a way that it hasn't before. that they are going forward with these bans against north korea. they also suggested that if north korea strikes first, and we retaliation reretaliate y might not block that

guest: i talked to general mattis, i have not talked to general kelly. general mattis said that my analysis of the root problems were the best he has seen. he may not agree with my policy recommendations, meaning putting contracted guys into the roles. he said the root problem, meaning sustain the battalions from the bottom up with long-term mentors, i think that is the right approach and he would agree. host: if your plan was implemented, how long would it take to succeed? >> it would take about a year to fully ramp up, getting people into all of the positions, 100 different battalions across afghanistan. you would see significant changes on the ground within months because the afghan battalions functioning much better that have reliable air support will put more pressure on the taliban. what soldier in afghanistan, what afghan soldier wants to leave his base knowing that he has almost no chance of any reaction force support him if they get in a big firefight? if he gets wounded, he can die of an infection after 10 days because he did not get antibiotic

general mattis issued the stern warning to north korea where i started at the top of the hour. part of it said "the regime's actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates." let's go to lucas tomlinson at the pentagon. lucas? >> good afternoon, harris. added to that warning to pyongyang, defense secretary jim mattis added "north korea must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons. to that end, mattis is visiting a submarine base in washington, his home state, to visit the u.s.s. kentucky seen here, a ballistic missile submarine which has 24 trident ballistic missiles, each missile has up to ten independent nuclear warheads, each bigger than the size of the hiroshima bomb. other options are b-1 bombers which carry conventional bombs, stationed 2,000 miles away from north korea on the island of guam. since north korea's first ballistic missile test, these b-1 bombers have showed force in the area. there's the aircraft carrier strike group in japan. the u.s.s. ronald reagan was off

erik prince: i talked to general mattis. i have not talked to general kelly yet because he is new in to that position. general mattis said my analysis of the root problems that need to be addressed are the best he has seen. he might not agree with my policy recommendations, meaning putting contracted guys into those roles, but he said the root problem, meeting sustaining battalions from the bottom up with the structure with , long-term embedded mentors, i think that is the right approach and he would agree. steve scully: so if your plan were to be implemented, how long would it take to succeed? erik prince: well it would take , a year and a half to fully ramped up. people in those positions are almost battalions across 100 afghanistan. you would see significant changes on the ground within months because those afghan battalions would be functioning much better and have viable air support, it will put much more pressure on the taliban. here is the thing. afghanistan,in what afghan soldier wants to leave his base knowing he has

will destroy it. >> general mattis may have take tennessee a step beyond what i said. there are no mixed messages. >> u.s. military officials are preparing for tensions to ride in the coming days and scheduled days begins august 21st to test how well u.s. and korean troops can work together. >> and tonight, oust officials say for now, they do not see any evidence of an imminent north korean missile launch. >> thank you very much, barbara star. let's talk about all of this, the north korean crisis and more with susan rice. thank you very joining us. >> good to be with you, wolf. >> he just said that if he does do something to guam, it will be an event to the likes of which no one has ever seen before. he said that's not a dare, it's a statement of fact. do you see that as a direct threat? >> wolf, we have to be careful, the rhetoric and hot language is itself a challenge. on the korean side, the north korean side, we run the risk that they fiscmi miscalculate t message from the u.s. incorrectly and act. who president trump said today is that if north korea was to attack

general mattis is going to have to see this through. >> exactly.rom what i'm hearing, they are looking at kind of continuing the existing policy, except not allowing transgenders to join in the future. what we are looking at is what we would like to get to, a position where, if you want to join the military and you are transgender, have everything already done before you exceed into the military, whether it is through rtc program, the academies or just enlisting. i think president trump is taking that option away. the existing policy is working. it's the transition of people currently on active duty who have not made the transition to their declared gender. >> to be clear there, estimates of 6,000 people in the military are transgender. not everyone who is transgender wants a surgery. it only applies to a subgroup of that. thanks for being with us. >>> president trump picking fights with members of his own party. on the outs with executives and now a new group taking public issue with the president, rabbis. why they are ending an annual tradition.

secretary mattis understands what needs to be done here. >> nicole, you know, something that general on. secretary mattis is the secretary of defense. hr mcmaster is a national security advisor. john kelly is the chief of staff, all generals. we are, right now, the united states of america, which is supposed to have a civilian-run military, is now depending on retired generals. >> reporter: we have a military run west wing. >> yes. we are depending on these generals to safeguard our country, potentially from the commander in chief. the idea that mattis is on the phone, which, you know, under normal circumstances, that'd be great that the secretary of defense can pick up the phone and call militaries around the country to calm them down. but the united states shouldn't be about calming them down because of things said by the president of the united states, whether he's playing us or not, this has an impact around the world. and if he is playing us, shame on him. >> elise, let me ask you real quick though, i want your reaction, but i also want you to respond to something that short liv

and then rex tillerson trying to calm the waters and i think that general mattis was somewhere in the middle. so i think you have these mixed messages, and this is so innately hard to do, you're making a difficult task even harder. >> the president's remarks yesterday were even harder, the last statement about more power than the world has ever seen, that's actually a line that he has used repeatedly not only during his presidency, but he also used it in the opiod conference that he used this statements is, he was using the same line for power on the boarder. >> it's very dangerous for a president of the united states to speak in language that could be misinterpreted, misunderstand. >> you consider them a rational actor? >> i do consider them a rational actor. but this rational actor believes in its heart of hearts, that the united states constitutions a real and present danger to them and all of their actions proceed from that premise rationally. again, open to interpretation. >> we spoke to sergeant baucus, if there was actually a military action, he thought the chinese would actual

, i think there is a good chance he could say good-bye to general mattis as well.hink he wants that. >> colonel jacobs, xwrats to ha great to have you we me. so next we have more on the breaking news, latest in the russia investigation. ie me. so next we have more on the breaking news, latest in the russia investigation. the me. so next we have more on the breaking news, latest in the russia investigation. me. so next we have more on the breaking news, latest in the russia investigation. >> nobody has ever said god, i wish i had jury duty. available. >> so with the grand jury in place, the late night comics are sounding off over robert mueller, his special counsel authority and grand jury in considering the evidence for the russia probe. and all joking aside, we talk about the investigation and where it stands right now, and what it means for this administration and relationships between the u.s. and russia, after this. >>> so as we've been following the president is having troubles here at home over the ongoing russia investigation. but what about the view from ru

i think that is a question best answered by general mattis and the department of defense . what i can tell you is the ultimate goal is a peaceful set up between the government of afghanistan and that taliban that protects our interests in american life that i will let secretary mattis determinedly -- determine and lay that out for you specifically. >> a follow-up on afghanistan -- first of all, if for we have been doing in afghanistan hasn't been working, why are we still there, and if it hasn't been working, what are we planning to do differently moving forward? sec. huckabee sanders: one of the things that is different is the decision, and whether or not when and how to withdraw would be based on decisions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, and making sure we have an integrated strategy that puts all of our american power, diplomatic, economic, and military, in a way that is sustainable and cost-effective and making sure we had that integrated processes indicator -- is a big part of the strategy. >> adding troops would prolong the withdrawal? sec. huckabee sanders:

. >> general mattis and rex tillerson all coming out with variations of a more moderate statement. >> they want to try to scale this down, and the problem -- i think that's a terrific strategy for them now, now that the president has kind of messed up. say well he didn't mean that literally. but especially in a international crisis, you need to go carefully. president kennedy used the word quaranti quarantine. his generals cannot allow him to go out unscripted on things like this. >> the president tweeting that the nuclear arsenal is more powerful than ever. >> there's been no change. >> when i heard the statement yesterday, thank you, paul, for mentioning the book. i thought to myself, okay, wait, is the president trying to deter the north koreans from being something? or is he trying to compel them to do something. the reason the cuban missile crisis was so dangerous, was that kennedy was telling them tory move missiles. yesterday one got the idea that the president was trying to propel north korea to denuclearize. we're trying to deter them from future action. a threat to try to pr

generous. >> no, it's not. donald trump is being cynical about this. he wants his base to think he's doing one thing when actually mattisp. that's not being generous to donald trump. >> are they on the same page on this issue. >> that's what i meant. >> i'm not sure they're on the same page. >> anybody that does know general mattis will tell you two things, one, he's doing this for his country and, two, he understands the chain of command. >> right. >> but then why does he -- if that is all the case, why does he come out on television in afghanistan and talk the way he does about these soldiers needing to hold the line because the country's in a very bad place? because that is not respecting the chain of command. >> because the country is in a very bad place and he didn't talk about the president of the united states -- >> directly. >> like we. general mattis may be more brilliant than all of us because we got what we wanted out of it and the troops got what they wanted out of it and i think actual lich he is ve-- actually nimble diplomatically. >> one of the things when i'm thinking enthusiastically about the country,

now it is down to -- you general mattis, the secretary of defense . folks may remember, he had to get a waiver because he is not a civilian. the traditional secretary of defense. he is s a general. then you have the national security adviser come usually civilian, but he is general mcmaster. then you have the chief of staff, usually a civilian, but he is also a general, general kelly. the significance of these three men -- and you quit afghanistan, you quit your position in the state department under president obama protesting the war. you also served in iraq and you were a marine corp. jumped a commandeder in iraraq. at your ththoughts about this nw military leadership of this country that surrounds president trump? >> i go to one of my favorite eisenhower quote, president eisenhower quotes. what i said earlier, both president eisenhower and also president kennedy recognized, as well as dr. martin luther king, recognize this intersection at the wars abroad are intersected with the wars at home, that we can't have peace at home while having war abroad

many of us just last week had a classified briefing with general mattis and secretary tillerson. i have to say that i think most of us left that meeting feeling that we're doing what we can and on the right path. and certainly over the weekend the security council resolution was a big boost. i think we're all very happy and gratified with how that came off. >> do you think, senator, that these sanctions, even more sanctions are enough that china will do what is necessary, given china's key role as the key exporter and importer to north korea? >> we just don't know. we just don't know. sanctions have not worked in the past. these are ratcheted down even tighter. so, perhaps. we all know that we don't have much leverage. china has leverage. we don't know how much. with north korea being so close to where they want to be, it's difficult to say whether or not they'll pull back now. but this is the best, i think, course we can take right now, and i'm glad that we have general mattis and secretary tillerson in charge here of negotiations. that makes us feel good. >> the united nations

there were no big surprise as i heard it i mean to be honest general mattis may have taken a step beyond what i said there was no mixed messages and rex was just you know stating to the news that look is the view i said yesterday i don't have to say it again and i'll tell you this it may be tougher than i said it not less it be very well be tougher than i said. later the same afternoon the president delivered what was perhaps his clearest set of remarks on a number of issues his administration is addressing president trump made it clear how he would deal with north korea versus the policy of the three previous administrations the message was clear kim jong un won't be pulling any fast ones on the current administration and with me he's not get nowhere with this he got away with it for a long time between him and his family he's not getting away with this is a whole new ball game and he's not going to be saying those things and he's certainly not going to be doing those things i read about where to go by august fifteenth let's see what he does with. he does something in guam it will be an

general maes mattis, the secretf state, saying another.ent say, well, actually, mattis was tougher than me and we're all on the same page. did you get that? >> yes, he did, he said there are no mixed messages here. i think that sort of tells you that this administration is really looking at this with all pgs options on the table. the president was clear he's not going to forecast his next move. he did say negotiating is still an option. that's rex tillerson's lane. he is at the state department. his hope is they can come up with some sort of diplomatic solution that you don't then move over into the territory of general mattis and move toward a military option. i think that that's why people are watching what someone like rex tillerson is saying, and then what the president is saying. and they're a little bit confused. they're scratching their heads a little bit. we heard there from president trump. he did say negotiations were still possible but he offered a pretty dim view of the likelihood those would be successful. you heard him say we

when general mattis talks about the destruction of the people of north korea, of the regime change and north korea, it actually sounds like we're in the movie "dr. strange love" and the general is advising the president that we could get into a conflict, a thermo nuclear conflict. we might get our hair messed, but we will totally destroy their people. this is the kind of language that could be completely misinterpreted by the leaders of north korea, that could wind up with an accidental conflict that could ultimately wind up with the deaths of hundreds of thousands on millions of people including americans along the demilitarized zone, 25,000 soldiers there, people who are in guam who are our people who could be killed. it's time for the president to go to the negotiating table with the north koreans and begin to discuss a peaceful resolution of this conflict. it is slipping very rapidly out of control. >> in this north korean statement, senator, the north koreans ridiculed president trump. let me read a couple sentences from the statement. the u.s. president at a golf links again let

and so you have general mattis, who is the leader of the armed forces saying, you know, trying to give north korea some space there. and say, look, stand down. and you have tillerson saying, you know, stand down. there's room for negotiation here. and you have the president not acknowledging that at all. so you're getting kind of mixed signals. and as john kirby says, you know, you're boxing kim in to a degree, and what do you do? do you look weak if he then ratchets it up and you don't respond? >> phil, how do you see this? >> one word, choices. i remember being in the white house complex on september 11th of 2001, i was evacuated, walking around the streets of washington, and you realize within 24, 48, 72 hours, and then when we realize with confirmation that al qaeda from afghanistan was responsible for that attack, the president, president bush had no options. he had no choice. in this case, the president has a lot of options. he could choose to focus on different issues, russia, china, the opioid crisis, which he talked about today. i agree that north korea is a potential nuclear

was some clean upgoing on you could see throughout the speech the influence of his generals, general mattis, general kelly, general mcmaster. it's also in that beginning part remember before charlottesville there was a controversy over the president's tweets about banning transgender troops, transgender service members from the military. and this is something that also caused a lot of consternation within the pentagon within the armed forces. so i think it was a bit of cleanup on all those fronts to get it started under this particular audience tonight. but you're right talking to people getting a quick take tonight, including republicans i expected to hear a lot more you know the president looked very presidential tonight this is a new leaf. i didn't hear that much of it people said look, we don't know what his world view is. he's guided by the people he listens to and his gut. and his gut is tough to predict. yes, tomorrow we have this rally in arizona where he could announce the pardon of former sheriff joe arpaio which is a lot of republicans don't want to see him do. >> yeah we're goin

that's general mattis's message. the president tweeted, my first order as president was to modernize and renovate our nuclear arsenal. it's now stronger than ever before, we hope we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that the united states is not the most powerful nation in the world. >> number one, he did order a review, that review is still under way. you do not modernize nuclear -- so you see again, in mattis's statement, he kind of walks it back and said here's what the president did do, he said his first order was to emphasize our readiness of our nuclear defense, yes, let's up the readiness, but the president has not successfully executed an order to modernize our nuclear forces. it's going to take several years and hundreds of millions of dollars. >> they may have 30 or 60 nuclear bombs, the united states has 7,000? >> it's an overwhelming capability. but the review is something you do all the time. it's congressly mandated. it doesn't mean that the nuclear arsenal isn't ready an

general mattis attended that meeting on friday with the president and the white house advisers where discussed and made those decisions on war-torn countries. on board a flight this morning, secretary mattis said the president wants to be the first to share the details of the new plan with the american people. >> the president had to make strategic decisions. [inaudible] whence he really did come in, different courts -- [inaudible] tree into this weekend, top afghan official said our forces out of the country would be a total failure. the tribe administration as you know has been at odds in recent months on exactly what to do. more on afghanistan, which is now going on for 16 years. arthel: the fight against isis ramping up as the country's prime minister warned the terror group to render or die. we reclaim all the territory from the terrace, plus the people continue mourning victims of a pair of deadly terror attacks has been massive manhunt continues. authorities say they have made an search for the suspected driver who swerved into pedestrians in barcelona. we have those details f

he has a strong team of general mattis, general mcmaster, general kelly and behind the scenes, they'reoften doing diplomatic work. it is his job in a sense to be the bad cop while they're the good cop. >> give us your position on rex tillerson and his machinations, is this a good cop/bad cop in that seems to be the approach here, that i are working together on the same side? >> let's hope and pray that's what it is and it works, obviously, we want this to work, if, indeed, rex tillerson is playing the good cop to president trump's bad cop. let's hope and pray this is what north korea hears and understands and moves them to negotiate with us so we don't have this continued war of the word. but in a perfect world, i agree with both selena and rick the president of the united states is somebody that speaks in strong by measured tones the united states doesn't immediately draw a line in the sand, their opponents that cross it. i just think that strength through measured words is, speaks more clearly and better suits the american people. >> okay. rick, stay with us. coming up, why a member

secretary of defense general james mattis has already called russia a strategic competitor when it comes to afghanistan so he clearly doesn't appreciate development corporation as much as you do and i think that also reflects the sounds of insecurity psychological insecurity that the americans have to sort out first that has little to do with afghanistan i think it's internal american problem how do you think the world the regional power should talk to the united states to persuaded in the. existence of mutual interest that it could be actually beneficial for all to join forces and finally put an end to that endless war when when general mattis says that russia's strategic competitor in afghanistan. do they mean that they are up to something. which russia shouldn't of be off what is that obviously means that is that object that russia should not that madalyn about his active middle. middle in determining the african government of course russia shouldn't do that so should the united states not do that but if the u.s. is in afghanistan to fight extremism that's the name in which they came.

that,: the response to general mattis, north korea attacks seoul, maybe kills a couple hundred thousandeople or more. in which case, we have to try to suppress that to prevent him from sending out more rockets and from killing millions people. whereupon we have the korean second war. we should remember what happened in the first korean war. in the first korean war, north korea attacks south korea and almost pushed and took control of the whole peninsula. americans came to the rescue at the last minute. pushed north korea up. charlie: harry truman. graham: and there were leftovers in japan, five years after world war ii. we push them back up the peninsula thinking it will be over by christmas. out of the blue, 300,000 chinese and another half-million push us , back and lead us back down to the peninsula where the war started. so the chinese said, we settled the manner. there is not going to be a unified korea or american military might on our border. you say, well, wait a minute, we are not starting this. it is this guy kim jong-un. i think this will be extremely painful playing out. tru

general mattis, i'm sorry, secretary mattis, former general mattis, seeming to say if they're headed guam, he's going to assume they're going to hit guam. is that an unreasonable position? >> i'm not sure it's unreasonable and certainly secretary mattis has a lot of experience in these areas to be sure. i think, though, the concern is that what president trump said initially with his initial comments was to lay down a bit of a red line that any type of threat that kim jong-un would issue would be met with fire and fury. so the question immediately arises, what qualifies as threat. is it more verbal posturing from the north korean regime, is it mobilizing missiles, firing missiles that land like so many of theirs have in the sea. that type of question and those uncertainty is a dangerous place to be in this region with this regime. >> i want to ask you about the attack in charlottesville. president trump did not refer to it as act of democratomestic te. >> i think he should have. i think it is important that sessions did. by any measure, this violence, an individual plowing a car into

general john kelly, general mattis, general mcmaster and, of course, general anesthesia. ( laughter ) a worrying trend. credit is due where credit is due, by firing scaramucci, trump has shown he's at least capable of the obvious because scaramucci had to go. one week into the job and the guy already had four scandal also. even trump is going, this guy, every day, there's something new with him! i mean, have you guys ever seen anything like this? have you, folks? yeah, i didn't think so. and now that kelly's gotten rid of scaramucci, seems like everything is back to noamplet even steve bannon is, like, so, is he done? ( laughter ) ( applause ) still trying. so, now, obviously, because kelly's in, previous chief of staff reince priebus is out. the question is, though, why did he get the axe? >> the final straw for president trump with priebus was the fact that health care vote went down in defeat last week. this is a big priority for the president. reince priebus' selling point, he said he was the person to get healthcare over the finish line to overhaul obamacare, that he had all thes

in terms of these twin messages out of the us, you mentioned general mattis and president trump's rhetorichat feel like a deliberate policy? is there a strategy? yes, we would hope so! but often so far it has happened that a lot of, on the policy site, the people on the ranks say something completely different to the president. you wonder if they are co—ordinating. to the president. you wonder if they are co-ordinating. yes. or if it is just off—the—cuff remarks. he has been known to do that on twitter in particular. it is difficult to judge, but you really hope... supposedly no one in was expecting the fire and fury comments. china's position on this is very much on the fence. in many ways china doesn't want to see a reunited korea. that is not in its best interests. in the paper it says china said even if north korea was to move ahead it would stay neutral. it doesn't want the north and south... it doesn't want a unified korea. in some ways is —— it is in its best interests to have a slightly unstable north korea. it doesn't want war either because there will be many refugees flowing int

general mattis and others when asked about this keep pointing back to diplomatic solutions not militaryions, that may be telling. liz: senator harvey, you know what happens in washington, d.c. when situations like this arise, whether going back to kosovo, for example, or any other hot spot in the world. diplomatic channels, the associated press is reporting today that there are so-called back channels where there is whispering going on between u.s. envoys and representatives of north korea. do you hold hope this may simmer things down, calm them down versus amplification of what everybody calls rhetoric? >> well, certainly, diplomacy is the number one goal of any administration when dealing with an enemy of the united states, we certainly want war to be the last resort, and i would hope, i would assume that the president of the united states is doing everything that he can to avoid war, but what he is telling north korea is that if they are going to try to threaten guam, if they're going to try to threaten south korea or japan, they need understand what the results will be? that the uni

i trust he will look towards general mattis and others for their advice. >> you make a fair point. we don't know the president's final decision. the talk of several thousand troops and the 3,000 to 4,000 range is based on what general nicholson asked for a month of months ago through the defense secretary. if the president said in the past that the afghanistan war is a waste of lives, and he sends more young american men and women there at risk of their lives, how do americans rectify those two contradictory statements in. >> i think you have to trust that the president has examined all the options that were on the table. he also said during the campaign that he believed he would leave no stone unturned when examining this. we have to look tonight at his speech. if he's sending more troops what is the justification for doing so. >> robby mook, i imagine you have a different view of the situation. let's be honest, president obama faced a similar challenge as did president bush during his time in office. this challenge of a long war, not going well, deciding to send more troops there.

i trust general mattis, dunford, and kelly more than i trust general paul. he is a worse general than general obama, believe it or not. general paul has been wrong about everything in this war. it is that kind of thinking that got us into 9/11. you may be tired of fighting the terrorists that are not tired of fighting you. on september 10th, 2001, we did the rand paul way. we didn't have one soldier in afghanistan, we didn't have an embassy, we didn't have a dime a day coming tost afghanistan, and they hit us anyway. this is a war between radical islam and the rest of us. they hate our guts, they are not goingth to stop fighting us untl we kill them and stabilize afghanistan. here iss the good news. after 22 visits to afghanistan, people are not buying with the taliban are selling, what al qaeda al qaeda and isis are isselling. millions of girls are in schools, the infant mortality rate is going down, the life expectancy is giving up, 6,000 afghan soldiers died last year, 14 americans. i have been there a lot. they don't want to radical islam is selling. it

>> from here, you do what general mattis said. after pursue multiple lines.re doing the diplomacy piece, you have to do the isolation, but it has to be a credible threat that's on the table and i believe that's what president trump is trying to do and say, look at, utter annihilation, catastrophic results will come for more. we saw china put out a couple of statements just yesterday that they understand this and they told north korea, we are not going to come to your aid if you strike the u.s. first. >> melissa: what would that look like you try to pressed china into service question rick we talked about how we need to assume the strategy of being ready for battle, but for china to intervene, what does that mean, raining them in? do they have to push for a regime change? what would be convincing that this is no longer a threat? >> for china, i don't think it needs to be a regime change. china wants the status quo. the north korean peninsula or the korean peninsula is a very strategically located place for china, for russia, for japan, so they want the status

. >> nicole asked you, do you think general mattis would disobey a direct order from the president ifelt he had to? you answered yes without hesitation. >> i think so. there's a relatively small number of people who are the adult supervision there. when you are at a lower rank, you have a responsibility to make sure you don't do anything immoral or illegal. when you get to the at the top of the food chain, you're not only responsible for making sure we don't do anything immoral or illegal, but you are responsible for making sure we don't do anything stupid, and i think general mattis and some others are in a position to say no, whether they think it's a lawful order or not, they won't do it. >> i'm sure the people on guam, 168,000 people, american citizens all, u.s. territory, are as surprised that they are in the news as we are to be talking about them. what's the significance of north korea using this specific number saying they are going to fire four missiles into the water around guam? what's that for? >> so that's actually a great question, brian, because in this supposed plan th